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RC V. Ottoman Empire Round 3 – Turkey Slapped

The Russians and the Ottoman Empire were all set to go at it once again. The Russians were ready for action, hoping to build on an encouraging loss, if there is such a thing. The Ottoman Empire were looking to defend their title as undisputed Black Sea Biff champions.

The Ottoman Empire had been able to build on their forces, adding in a Death Bringer Submarine to the rotation. This brought the points total up to near 1000. This gave me some options when building my list and I had a good idea… it was a good idea… and I stand by it… Up you can probably see where this may be headed…

It should also be noted the Ottoman fleet has had some paint lathered on, its a simple but effective scheme, thus far, but will look great.

The game took place a few weeks (possibly months now…) ago just prior to the release of 2.0, so it was something of a last hurrah for the 1.1 rule set.

I was very much looking forward to getting the PLC guys into action, especially the newly painted Gryfs!

Forces lined up on each side. The RC deployed the Zamiec and the Borodino on my left. To try and make the most of the shield generator/mimic link up.

Unfortunately the Ottoman Empire Dreadnought was deployed on the exact opposite side, making its sinking unlikely. The Death Bringer was, however very much fair game.

The opening salvo of the game came from the Death Bringer. Its target: the Borodinosaur. The Ottoman’s had learned last time how dangerous the Big B is left unchecked. They were taking no chances. The shot was fairly epic, lots of 6’s. The Ablative Armour was no more, but it had prevented a triple critical.

Storms harried the Suvurovs as the Novgorods were thinned out.

Mines were deployed fencing off the dreadnought.

The Zamiec swoops in for a little revenge on the death bringer.

The Suvurovs and Gryfs start taking heavy damage, one Suv is sunk another slowly corroding away.

The Zamiec takes out the death bringer a rare high point for the RC/PLC lads.

Nav lock on the Boro as the Zamiec takes light damage while the Gryfs, having done little continue to take damage, one by one plunging into the sea.

The Boro is out for the count.

Game.Set.Ottoman Empire.

I think this loss came down to a couple of key issues:

1. Poor manoeuvring
2. Not the best deployment
3. Bad targeting

My big plan was to hide Novgorods and Gryfs behind an island, using the Gryfs to burn the AP out of the Dread before mounting a 2 wave boarding attack on it. While it sounded good in theory sending waves of vodka soaked peasants into the burning shell of a dread couldn’t have ended well for anyone. It wasn’t a bad plan… just poorly executed. Sending the Gryfs up the middle in between all their units, especially considering the broadsides was essentially suicide, they never fired a shot. I should have known better. Furthermore the Novgorods kept peeking out from behind the island allowing themselves to be picked off one by one. I then separated the units and they died pointless ineffective deaths.

The whole flank on that side ended up quite weak with the big hitters all on the opposite side. They might have been better in a more central position.

The 3rd speaks for itself. Poor target choices, the Gryfs barely fired a shot, if at all, it so yeah. Less than good.

Tips for next time. Well 2.0 should help deployment, reducing the need to build in additional activations and allowing me to counter the heavy hitters a bit better.The re-balancing as a whole should really help.

Given the 2.0 changes I’ll probably need to take a repair ship or two to keep the HP up above the halfway mark…

So, another loss for the RC. The Boro never really got into the game before being taken down. Really the whole RC fleet didn’t do a whole lot. Just slowly dying… It was not an inspiring performance. Big Zed though, he does alright. MVP for that one.
The key issue was bad manoeuvring, sending the Suvurovs and the Gryfs right into the centre, between the two flanks of the Ottoman Empire. Secondly I exposed the Novgorods far too early, allowing them to be picked off without them doing anything of import.